Genesis 25–36

Abraham’s Death and His Descendants

25Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. ^2lShe bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. ⁴The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. ^5mAbraham gave all he had to Isaac. ⁶But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he ⁿsent them away from his son Isaac, eastward ^oto the east country.

⁷These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life, 175 years. ⁸Abraham ^pbreathed his last and ^qdied in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. ⁹Isaac and Ishmael ^rhis sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre, ¹⁰the field ^sthat Abraham purchased from the Hittites. ^tThere Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife. ¹¹After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac settled at ^uBeer-lahai-roi.

¹²These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, ^vwhom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham. ^13wThese are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: ^xNebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and ^xKedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵Hadad, ^yTema, ^zJetur, ^zNaphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, ^atwelve princes according to their tribes. ¹⁷(These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He ^bbreathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.) ^18cThey settled from Havilah to ^dShur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. He settled¹ over against all his kinsmen.

The Birth of Esau and Jacob

¹⁹These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: ^eAbraham fathered Isaac, ²⁰and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, ^fthe daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of ^gPaddan-aram, ^hthe sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. ²¹And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And ⁱthe Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. ²²The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?”² So she went ^jto inquire of the Lord. ²³And the Lord said to her,

^k“Two nations are in your womb,

and two peoples from within you³ shall be divided;

^lthe one shall be stronger than the other,

^mthe older shall serve the younger.”

²⁴When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵The first came out red, ⁿall his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. ²⁶Afterward his brother came out with ^ohis hand holding Esau’s heel, so ^phis name was called Jacob.⁴ Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

²⁷When the boys grew up, Esau was ^qa skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, ^rdwelling in tents. ²⁸Isaac loved Esau because ^she ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Esau Sells His Birthright

²⁹Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. ³⁰And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.⁵) ³¹Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” ³²Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” ³³Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and ^tsold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

God’s Promise to Isaac

26Now there was a famine in the land, besides ^uthe former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to ^vAbimelech king of the ^wPhilistines. ²And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell ^xin the land of which I shall tell you. ^3ySojourn in this land, and ^zI will be with you and will bless you, for ^ato you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish ^bthe oath that I swore to Abraham your father. ^4cI will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And ^din your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, ⁵because ^eAbraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

Isaac and Abimelech

⁶So Isaac settled in Gerar. ⁷When the men of the place asked him about his wife, ^fhe said, “She is my sister,” for ^ghe feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because ^hshe was attractive in appearance. ⁸When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with¹ Rebekah his wife. ⁹So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’ ” ¹⁰Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and ⁱyou would have brought guilt upon us.” ¹¹So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

¹²And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord ^jblessed him, ¹³and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. ¹⁴He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines ^kenvied him. ¹⁵(Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells ^lthat his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) ¹⁶And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

¹⁷So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. ¹⁸And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And ^mhe gave them the names that his father had given them. ¹⁹But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, ²⁰the herdsmen of Gerar ⁿquarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek,² because they contended with him. ²¹Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.^{3 22}And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth,⁴ saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

²³From there he went up to Beersheba. ²⁴And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, ^o“I am the God of Abraham your father. ^pFear not, for ^qI am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” ²⁵So he ^rbuilt an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

²⁶When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and ^sPhicol the commander of his army, ²⁷Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and ^thave sent me away from you?” ²⁸They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, ²⁹that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. ^uYou are now the blessed of the Lord.” ³⁰So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. ³¹In the morning they rose early and ^vexchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. ³²That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” ³³He called it Shibah;⁵ therefore the name of the city is ^wBeersheba to this day.

³⁴When Esau was forty years old, he took ^xJudith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, ³⁵and ^ythey made life bitter⁶ for Isaac and Rebekah.

Isaac Blesses Jacob

27When Isaac was old and ^zhis eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” ²He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. ^3aNow then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, ⁴and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul ^bmay bless you before I die.”

⁵Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, ⁶Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ⁷‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ ⁸Now therefore, my son, ^cobey my voice as I command you. ⁹Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰And you shall bring it to your father to eat, ^dso that he may bless you before he dies.” ¹¹But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, ^emy brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. ¹²Perhaps my father ^fwill feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring ^ga curse upon myself and not a blessing.” ¹³His mother said to him, ^h“Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.”

¹⁴So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. ¹⁵Then Rebekah took the ⁱbest garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. ¹⁶And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷And she put the delicious food and the bread,…